Smile for me
by Seriouslyme
Summary: When Sakura met Sasuke, all she wanted was to be was Lady Uchiha, wife of the one and only Lord Uchiha. SasuSaku AU.
1. Chapter 1

New story after ages.

SasuSaku, AU.

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**Sakura**

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She was a child of spring, born and named after it. She was a child of Riverland and Haruno, and there was a myth amongst the people of Springfield that the Harunos were part fair-folk for they had the most queer of hair-colours. She had inherited that trait, although Haruno Sakura was yet to discover any hidden powers she had inherited from the fair-folk.

She had grown up in the Springfield for a time, where spring had a stronghold and flowers blossomed six moons a year. Autumn was short and warm, and winter shorter still.

As the daughter of Lord Haruno Tekushi, heir of the eastern riverlands and tenth in line to the throne, Sakura had been born in the Springfield castle, and was spoiled and fussed upon until, on her sixth year, her mother, the beautiful Lady Haruno, took fancy to a passing knight and he got her with child, a scandalous tragedy for the entire House of Haruno. It might have been quieted down and swept under the rug as these matters often were where highborn ladies were concerned, had the Lady not proclaimed her love for the knight infront of Lord Haruno himself. Later, in the shadow of the night, she galloped off with her lover, never to be heard from again.

So at six years and four moons, Sakura woke up to find her mother gone and her father angrier than she had ever seen him. For a time, she was raised by her matron, who had been there since she was little. Sakura missed her mother, but it wasn't terribly so; since she could remember, she had been cared for by matrons more than her own mother.

She was short of two moons to her eighth nameday when her father announced that she was to be sent to Rasengan, the mighty castle of House Uzumaki.

"There are no children here," her father said one day, "and Lady Uzumaki has graciously agreed to take you in until a proper apprenticeship can be arranged."

"But father! I do not want to go," Sakura said sullenly, pouting her lips. "The Uzumaki boy is stupid and loud."

"My darling child, it is not fair for you to grow up here all alone, without a proper lady to teach you how to behave. Besides, when you come of age, you are to marry the young Lord Uzumaki. This is a chance to get to know him my princess."

"I won't go," Sakura glared at her father, "You just want to send me away, but I won't go."

But when the time came, she was carried off in a horse-drawn carriage, crying and kicking. Her matron went with her, along with fifteen of her father's men.

Naruto was as loud and irritating as Sakura remembered. But his mother, the Lady Kushina was even more beautiful and graceful than they said she was, and Sakura aspired to be like her. She combed her own hair thrice everyday in hopes that one day, she too, would have hair as long as the Lady. She tried to spend as much time as she could with Lady Uzumaki, although it wasn't much, as the Lady was often busy and away on business or meeting with important people. So most of the time, Sakura was stuck with her loud and impossibly cheerful son.

Lord Jiraiya, Naruto's lecherous Uncle, came by to visit sometimes, and although he disgusted Sakura, Naruto adored him. They were taught by Master Kakashi, a grey-haired man with a mask covering most of his face. Sakura much preferred her old Master back at home.

There was one other person in the Rasengan that Sakura adored even more than she did the Lady Kushina. And that was none other than Lady Kushina's young ward: Uchiha Sasuke.

To Sakura, Lord Sasuke was everything Naruto was not. He was incredibly handsome with huge dark eyes framed by jet black bangs and a gaze that pierced her very soul, young as it was. He was a sullen boy who seldom smiled and his words, when he spoke at all, had a biting edge. Even so, Sakura hung onto his every word. Sasuke proved as smart and skilled as Naruto was idiotic and clumsy, and he scored the best grades out of the three of them (Although, to be fair, Sakura sometimes made deliberate mistakes in order to let him score the highest. It was a smile price to pay, as it was one of the few things that made him smile, and his smile made Sakura very happy). Outside of her lessons with Master Kakashi, Sakura spent the rest of her time trailing after Sasuke, who did his very best to elude her.

It was rather comical for the rest of the castle because, while Sakura trailed after Sasuke, Naruto followed her like a puppy, and more often than not, it ended up in loud childish brawls of name-calling and fist-fighting. It would start when Sasuke called Sakura something along the lines of a 'weak annoying little worm' and Naruto, furious that his future wife had been insulted, lashed out at Sasuke, and Sakura, furious at Naruto for harming_her_ love, would punch Naruto. Neither boy would lay a hand on Sakura, and Sasuke would punch Naruto for punching him, and Naruto would punch him back, and Sakura's earlier punching of Naruto's face would be forgotten as the two boys fought it out. It usually ended with Sakura screaming at Naruto for leaving her out and treating her like such a girl.

Life in Rasengan continued as such, and as time passed, Sakura grudgingly admitted to herself that Naruto wasn't as bad as he seemed at first; it was kind of fun sneaking into the kitchens and mixing labels, or adding sugared strawberries to the beef stew. There was a particularly hilarious event in which the cook opened the oven to find that her freshly baked pumpkin pie had turned into a sand pie stuffed with worms. Even Sasuke, who usually did not take any active part in their plans, joined them under the stairs to enjoy the smuggled pie.

Outside of their daily school lessons, the boys practiced sword craft and archery everyday while Sakura was expected to attend dance lessons and sewing classes where her matron tried to teach her the art of embroidery. True, Sakura did love to wear beautifully embroidered gowns and she very much liked to be treated as a lady(if only Sasuke would realize that), but it was dreadfully boring to actually make stitch after stitch. Dance classes were not as bad, and she enjoyed dancing with the delightful Master Genma, who was handsome but so very old. But most of all, Sakura wanted to join her boys in their archery lessons and show them she could hold her own with a wooden sword.

It was almost a year after she came to the Rasengan that Sakura finally mustered the courage to ask Lady Kushina if she might exchange her embroidery and dance sessions for archery and sword craft. Lady Kushina was having her afternoon tea in her chambers when the maid led Sakura into her rooms.

"Come my darling," said Lady Kushina when Sakura entered. "Mikasa says you have some matters you would like to address. Come, child. Sit down beside me and have Mikasa pour you a cup of tea. Or would you prefer juice?"

"Juice plese, my Lady," said Sakura as she tried to demurely set herself down on the chair beside Lady Kushina. Today, the Lady was dressed in an emerald gown made of velvet and embroidered with fine silver threads. Her long auburn hair was pulled into a intricate braid on the top of her head with a few strands left loose to frame her face.

_She looks like a queen_, thought Sakura, smoothing her own pink locks which were short and straight and did not have anything more than a flower-shaped hairpin.

"So Sakura, what did you want to talk about?" Lady Kushina's voice brought her out of her thoughts and Sakura swallowed, straightening up.

This was time to speak up.

"My lady," she began timidly. "would it… would it be alright for me to have archery and sword practice lessons? I would very much like to learn and I .. I don't much like embroidery .. all my gowns are made by other people and—and Master Genma says I can already dance beautifully—I mean, I can dance alright, I wouldn't embarrass myself or your ladyship if I were to dance and I would really very much like to learn to defend myself because I-" Sakura desperately wished she could stop, but the words came in a gush and she was rambling. She had all but forgotten the well rehearsed speech she had practiced infront of the mirror for days.

"Sakura," Lady Kushina spoke, and Sakura slammed her mouth shut, stopping mid-sentence. There it went. She had ruined her chances of practicing with the boys because of her stupid, blabbering mouth, and she had probably ruined the reputation she hoped to build up in the eyes of Lady Kushina by bragging about how good she was at dancing.

"Sakura," Lady Kushina continued. "Ofcourse you may take up sword craft and archery."

"Wait, _what_?" Sakura hadn't meant to say that, but she was too shocked at Lady Kushina's reply to stop the words from coming out of her mouth.

The Lady smiled and leaned over to ruffle Sakura's hair. "You are free to study what you want here, Sakura, as long as you do your school work and what you learn is of benefit to you. And I daresay, in times such as these, learning to hold your own against an enemy is much more important than learning how to stitch flowers and twist up your hair. You will join Naruto and Sasuke in their lessons in academics as well as their lessons outside the classroom. I shall write to your father and inform him of this. However, he left you in my care to be raised as I will, so he should be happy with my decision."

And, as simple as that, Sakura joined Naruto and Sasuke in the small courtyard the next afternoon, much to their surprise. She was given a wooden sword(which was heavier than she expected) with which she took a swing at Naruto when he told her she should not be fighting.

For the first month, Sakura was not allowed to actually fight with anybody, but made to do tedious exercises with and without her wooden sword. Archery was even worse. She was made to run around the perimeter of the courtyard ten times everyday, followed by twenty push-ups, and then watch as Naruto and Sasuke handled bows and shot arrows while their instructor screamed at her to stretch her arms or legs or do more push-ups.

By the time her first day was over, Sakura was aching all over and she could not walk without wincing in pain. The following days were much worse, and by the end of the third day, her calf hurt so bad Sasuke had to support her up the five flights of stairs to her room, and to her horror, she started tearing up halfway up because she was mortified that she was so weak and because every part of her hurt so much. She was glad when Sasuke pretended not to hear her sniffles and ignored her the next day instead of smirking like he usually did.

Every night, her matron made her sit in a tub of steamy water and rubbed oil on her cramped muscles, all the while muttering about how much she disapproved of Lady Kushina's decision to let Sakura run about like a wild child.

Nevertheless, as her training continued past one month, Sakura found that her arms were less easily tired when she swung her sword—infact, the sword seemed lighter in her hands than she remembered-, and that she could run ten times around the courtyard without fighting for breath. The pain she felt at the beginning of her training lessened and Sakura started to feel much more cheerful about her training. Eight weeks after she first started, Sakura was finally allowed to hold a bow and shoot at the target alongside Sasuke and Naruto. A few days later, Master Sakumo allowed her to spar against a real person.

As lessons continued Sakura learned that she could hold up her own against the boys in Archery, but it was hard to get a grasp of her level as swordsmanship because neither Naruto nor Sasuke took her seriously when she was paired with them to spar.

Life at Rasengan was peaceful and quiet as can be, but not completely without outside influence. It was three summers after Sakura first came to live there that a horse from the King's court arrived, galloping through the castle gates with a man sprawled across its back. The man was alive, but barely so, for there was an arrow piercing through his abdomen and coming out of his back, with a folded note impaled in it. Lady Kushina had been informed at once, and the note bore the gravest of news.

Or so Sakura heard from the servants.

It wasn't until she and Sasuke were summoned by Kakashi did she realize that something indeed_ was_ horribly wrong.

"We are officially at war with Orochimaru's forces," Kakashi informed them. "The servants are packing your things as we speak. You will only take the one bag given to your by your maidservant, and we will meet back here in fifteen minutes, do you understand?" He informed them as he stuffed several scrolls into the half-packed bag on the table.

"What.. why? Are they.. wouldn't we be safer here? Where's Naruto?" Sakura found herself trying to ask all her questions at once, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.

Kakashi sighed. "No questions nibblets. Get your things and meet me back here."

"No," it was Sasuke who spoke up this time, glaring at Kakshi. "We are not leaving until you tell us what is really going on. Like Sakura said, it would be safer if we stayed in the castle."

"Listen you little smartass," Kakashi slammed the book he'd been holding on the desk with a loud bang and rounded on them, glaring at Sasuke. "Orochimaru's men have surrounded the Rasengan. They have specifically asked for your head by means of the king's messenger, who they murdered and put on a horse with a note attached. And that note demanded _you_ Sasuke_._ So unless you want to die a slow and painful death, I suggest you get your bag and meet me here in – " he looked at his watch, "—ten minutes."

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	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

**Sasuke**

He could feel Sakura's stare boring a hole through his back as they made their way out of Kakashi's quarters. She had gaped at him like a fish when Kakashi started to rant about how Orochimaru wanted him, and although her mouth had since closed, she hadn't taken her eyes off him.

"What was all of that about?" she whispered urgently the moment the door closed behind them.

"All of what?" Sasuke asked, pinching the bridge of his nose. He could feel the beginnings of a headache.

"_That," _Sakura hissed, gesturing wildly behind her and running to catch up with him. "Why does Orochimaru want you?"

_Annoying._

"Quit hissing," Sasuke snarled through gritted teeth. "You're such an annoying little whelp." And then, because he _knew _how relentless and irritating Sakura could be when she didn't get her answers, he added, "I don't know why Orochimaru wants me, do I? Kakashi probably just said that to shut us up."

Sakura seemed satisfied with his answer, if the fact that she stopped hissing questions at him was any indication. Thankfully, she kept quiet the rest of the way down the corridor, and then she turned right and he turned left, heading for the north wing where his room was.

It hadn't been a complete lie that he told Sakura; he did not know why Orochimaru was asking for his head, although he had some inkling of what it could be.

Power.

Sasuke was no narcissist, but he knew what he was worth. He knew why he was kept under the watchful eye of Hatake Kakashi in one of the most reclusive and well protected forts in the kingdom. He was the last of an ancient clan; one whose eyes held the most destructive and powerful magic known to mankind, one whose magic had survived when all other magic had disappeared. He had the Sharingan; the cursed eyes of the Uchiha clan.

Sasuke gritted his teeth. He would be damned if he let Orochimaru get his eyes. He would be damned him all his training and hours of hard work for the past four eyes went down the drain and he allowed himself to be killed before he sought his vengeance.

_Itachi._

Even the name made him angry, even the fact that his brain had somehow brought up that name made him furious. Sasuke slammed open the door to his rooms and stormed in, startling the maid who was in the middle of putting folded clothes into a rucksack. She made haste to leave when he glared at her, and the moment the door shut behind her, Sasuke grabbed the brass candle-holder from the nearby table and threw it against the wall. It hit the wall with a thud and clattered to the floor, which made Sasuke even angrier. He grabbed a ceramic vase and hurled it too, and when it splintered and shattered onto the floor, he threw the next breakable object he could find, then the next.

_Perfect, admirable, kind, smart._ He picked up another glass and flung it.

_Gallant. Loyal._

_Big brother._

The statue of the dragon that sat on his writing desk met the wall and broke into several pieces.

_"Why? Why big brother?"_

_"To test my limits, little brother."_

He seemed to have cleared the table. _Dammit. _

_"Run and run, foolish little brother."_

Sasuke kicked the table with his foot for good measure, and when it didn't break as he wanted it to, he kicked it again and again. And again.

And just as suddenly as the rage had come, it left. Sasuke sank to the floor, suddenly exhausted.

_Fuck Kakshi. Fuck Orochimaru. _

_Fuck everyone._

That was how Kakashi found him ten minutes later.

"Get up. We need to leave," was all he said, and Sasuke found himself being pulled to his feet and handed the pack the maid had been packing. Kakashi made no remarks about the state of the room, or the fact that Sasuke had been sitting on the floor listlessly staring at the table that had refused to break. Sasuke was glad for his silence, and followed him out of the room.

They headed back to Kakshi's quarters, where both Naruto and Sakura were waiting. Sakura was sitting crosslegged on the floor, examining a wooden bow with several arrows. Naruto stood brandishing a shiny silver sword that glinted in the late afternoon sunlight.

"Put that away before you take out your own eyes, both of you," Kakashi drawled, having walked into the room after Sasuke and now rummaging through one of his drawers. Sakura rather hastily started stuffing her arrows back into their pouch, while Naruto bristled and glared at Kakashi, about to say something stupid and loud.

And sure enough, he did. "I am way better at this than you, old man-"

And Kakashi ignored him, instead, throwing what seemed to be a bunch of rags in Sasuke's direction and grunting, "put them on" without any explanation whatsoever, before drawing a sword from another one of his drawers and lunging at a very surprised Naruto, who stopped speaking mid-tirade and yelled loudly as he was disarmed with a sword held at his throat.

"What were you saying about your swordsmanship, Naruto?" Kakshi enquired in that mild, annoying tone he often used with them, withdrawing his sword. It seemed that Naruto couldn't quite figure out what to say, or he seemed to think better of it, because he closed his mouth, picked up his sword and tucked it back into its sheath.

Sasuke smirked, and turned back to the rags he had been given. They were rather worn out clothes, with patches and holes and old stains on them, even worse for wear than what the servants wore. His brows furrowed and he looked to Kakashi– who was still going through his drawers and stuffing different objects into pockets – , and then at both Naruto and Sakura and realized that all three of them were dressed in rags…

Which, he supposed, made sense.

If they were to be running from the castle, they had to keep a low profile. And their clothes weren't exactly cut-out for low profile. So it would make more sense to be dresses in clothes that were less noticeable than the colourful velvets.

Before Kakashi had a chance to turn back and start at Sasuke, he stripped off the jacket he was wearing and pulled the drab grey tunic over his head. He left his breeches as they were because they were a muddy sort of brown that would not stand out as much, and fastened the threadbare cloak around his shoulders.

He was pulling on his gloves when Kakashi threw something at him, and Sasuke only just managed to catch it before it hit him squarely on the head. He glared at Kakashi, who raised an eyebrow as if to say _"what?"_. The offending object was a sword, much like the one Naruto had. Both the hilt and sheath were rather plain, but when he pulled the blade free, the edges of it gleamed, just like Naruto had, and unlike the swords they used to practice with, it was light in his hands.

"Alright," Kakashi said, finally having found whatever he was searching for. "Lets get going kids. Sakura and Naruto, cover your hair. "

They left in pairs; Kakashi had Sakura and Sasuke go first( "Go through the west wing and then take the servent's stairs down to the lower kitchen's. We'll meet you there," was what Kakashi had said), and Sasuke assumed Kakashi would follow with Naruto.

The walk to the kitchens was uneventful and they did not pass anyone, perhaps because the upper floors of the west wing was rarely used. Kakashi had picked their path carefully.

When they reached the top-most floor of the west wing, Sakura stopped suddenly. Sasuke rolled his eyes, inwardly sighing as he opened his mouth to tell her to get a move on, they hadn't got all day incase she hadn't realized, when his gaze wandered to the window.

The west tower was the tallest tower in Rasengan, part of the reason why its top towers were mostly unused. You could see the courtyard of the castle and the land extending beyond the castle and the top of the forest that was south of the castle from the west wing. And right now, he could see the platoon of standing outside the walls of the castle. There were atleast a few hundred, maybe a thousand soldiers standing around the southern gate.

Sasuke did not want to think about the situation at the main gate on the other side of the castle. But it was not as if standing in the tower, panicking about the situation was going to do them any good. If anything, they should be doubling their efforts to get out of the castle, and out of the range of Orochimaru's armies.

Sasuke nudged Sakura on the shoulder. "Let's go."

Sakura was unusually quiet the rest of the way.

Naruto and Kakashi were already there when Sasuke arrived with Sakura in tow. Naruto was busily stuffing food into a bag from the kitchen shelves and Kakashi was looking at a map he had spread over one of the kitchen counters. The kitchen itself was empty except for a scullery maid who was feeding wood into the fire at the far end of the room.

"Kakashi-sensei," Said Sakura in a quiet voice, "There are armed horsemen surrounding the castle. The gate.. its.."

Kakashi looked up then, and his lone eye crinkled in a smile as he reached to pat Sakura's head. "It's going to be fine, Sakura. Don't worry."

"Yeah Sakura-chan," Naruto chirped in, "I'm here to protect you. "

Sasuke snorted_. Protect her_. As if the stupid little runt could actually hold his own against a soldier, much less protect someone. He watched as Naruto tried to unsuccessfully stuff several oranges into his already over-flowing pack.

"Gimme your bag, you bastard," Naruto yelled over his shoulder. Sasuke resisted the urge to roll his eyes and instead glared at the idiot, and said, "I'm not going to carry your stupid food." Naruto glared right back at him and stood up, but his tirade was interrupted by Kakashi, who had rolled up the map.

"Get ready to head out, you three. Stop bickering like old men," and then, much to Sasuke's surprise, he addressed the woman who was sitting near the fire. "Is it done?"

"Yes," replied the woman, and she stood up, carrying a small black cauldron which had been sitting on the fire. Sasuke watched with mild curiousity as she poured a thick black paste into a bottle and handed it to Kakashi.

"Use it before it dries out Kakashi."

"Thankyou," his sensei replied. "Stay safe Anko. Don't do anything stupid."

Soon, Kakashi called them to follow him and led them down to the kitchen celler which served as a food store during the winter. There, hidden behind a shelf of jars, was a small tunnel through which they had to crawl. It was especially difficult on Sakura and Naruto, each hauling an extra bag of food behind them, and Naruto complained loudly. Sasuke could barely see with what little light came from the rear of the group where Kakashi was holding a lantern, but after several long minutes, or maybe half of an hour, the tunnel began to widen until he only had to crouch and then widen some more, until Sasuke could finally stand on his feet.

They continued on foot for what seemed like an hour or maybe more before Kakashi called for them to stop. He put his lantern on the ground and drew a small bottle from his pocket. In the dim light, Sasuke saw that it was the same one the maid had given him.

"We're going to stay here a while. Naruto, Sakura, we need to put this on your hair and make it darker. Running is no use unless we can blend in."

"What are you on about sensei?" Naruto asked, scratching his head, a frown on his face.

"This is a black dye. It will make your hair dark. "

Sasuke sat down on the ground while first Naruto, then Sakura each took a bottle from Kakashi and applied it to their hair. After Kakashi inspected their hair and made sure every strand was stained black, they once again resumed their journey.

It was a long walk, and it was especially tiring with Naruto's constant chatting. Sakura, atleast, was somewhat somber, and she was sticking to Kakashi's side for a change, which made it a bit more bearable. But a while after, even Naruto quietened, and Sasuke noticed the growing weariness of his feet and the increasing weight on his shoulders. On his left, Naruto had begun dragging his feet, and sighing every now and then. But neither of them wanted to be the first to give in and ask for a rest. Eventually, it was Sakura who did.

They spent the night in the tunnel, sleeping on thin blankets spread over hard rocks.


	3. Chapter 3

New story after ages.

SasuSaku, AU.

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**Sakura**

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Her body ached and her feet hurt. She had been dead wrong when she had thought the back pain from that first night of sleeping on the hard ground was the worst.

This, this was incomparably worse than that.

What little food she had had with her was quickly running out and her stomach burned with the beginning of hunger. Her calves and thighs hurt so bad it was a wonder that only sheer will kept them from folding under her weight.

Sakura wanted to cry.

"Sakura-chan?" She heard Naruto call out from ahead and looked up to see that both boys had stopped a few feet away. Naruto's brows furrowed in concern and Sasuke had an exasperated look on his face.

"Yeah, I'm okay," she managed to say, and forced herself to put one foot infront of the other, following the boys deeper into the foliage.

They had left Kakashi behind almost two days back when he had noticed that they were being ambushed and told them to go in the opposite direction into the forest while he lead the pursuing party away from their path.

The forest was huge and dark and dangerous, aptly named Forest of Death for the number of poisonous animals and plants that lived there, and the only safety they had in the shade of the monstrous trees were from Orochimaru's men. One, because they would not expect the young Prince Naruto to be lurking about alone in a death trap with two other children, and two, because the forest provided a good cover in the form of trees.

Even then, their chances were slim with the poisonous trees and the shortage of food, not to mention wild animals.

She dearly hoped there weren't any huge, man-eating animals in this forest. She had slept poorly since the beginning of their journey three days ago, and even more poorly since Kakashi had left them on their own. She would wake up in starts or with the notion that something was crawling up her spine only to realize it was a nightmare, and she would lay awake, eyes wide, watching for any animal that might suddenly strike even though if they did, she had no way to defend herself. Not really, because they were on the forest ground with little to no weapons.

And they were out of food, save for a few crackers in her bag. She didn't dare try eating anything from the forest; it was suicide if you didn't know a lot about plants and poisons and she barely knew an apple tree from a peach tree.

They were going to die here, her, Sasuke and Naruto, and when Kakashi came back_ –if _ he came back, he was going to find their skeletons flayed of flesh by the wild, flesh-eating beasts of the forest. Her father would regret ever sending her to Rasengan, and she would never see him again.

She swallowed back a sob and blinked rapidly, trying to will away the moisture gathering at the corner of her eyes. The tears came anyway, streaming down the sides of her eyes, down to her cheeks and she brushed them away once, twice before giving up.

What was the point if they were going to die anyway?

She sniffled loudly and Sasuke, who was only a few steps ahead of her, turned to glare at her.

"Would you stop crying, Sakura?" he asked, annoyance evident in his voice.

"Don't be such a bastard," she heard Naruto say and then she felt his arms on her shoulders.

"We're all going to die," she sobbed, and for the first time in her life, didn't reprimand Naruto for trying to touch her.

"No, we're not," he said, his voice strong. "I'm going to protect you Sakura-chan. I'm going to get us out of here."

"Yeah right," Sasuke snorted. "_you _can't find your way around your own damned castle, dumbass."

"What did you say you bastard?"

And they were at it again. If the forest didn't kill them, they were going to kill each other.

"Well, well, well," said a voice behind her and all three of them froze. Sakura wiped her eyes and slowly turned around.

"What do we have here?" drawled the man in a sing-song voice as he walked towards the three of them, his face stretched into a smile that gave Sakura goosebumps.

"Who are you?" it was Naruto who spoke.

The man's smile widened and he leered at Naruto nastily, walking past Sakura and coming to a stop directly infront of him. "You must be Minato's brat. But I have not come for you, boy."

"Get away from us you slimy bastard," Naruto snarled in the man's face as he drew his sword and Sakura felt her stomach knot in fear. That was the exact thing you did not say and do to a person who looked like they could kill you with a look.

The man threw his head back and laughed. "I did not come here for you boy, I already told you that," he said, and the next thing she knew, he was holding Naruto up against a tree and his sword lay where he had been standing, broken into two. He opened his mouth and a huge snake reared its head out of it and slithered up his arm and across Naruto's shoulders until it had wrapped itself several times around both Naruto and the tree.

Sakura's breath hitched and unconsciously, she found herself backing away, eyes wide and terrified.

This was no ordinary man.

The man laughed again.

"L..let him go," Sakura found herself saying against her better judgment, a newfound bravado making her speak. Or maybe it was just stupidity. Or maybe she was more terrified of Naruto dying. The man turned towards her, his sickly smile still in place.

"And what are you going to do about it, girl? Should I have him swallowed whole, or would you like it if I chopped him to pieces first?" he walked towards her slowly, like a lion stalking its prey and Sakura found herself backing away.

"Get away from her," growled Naruto, struggling against the snake, his narrowed and anger evident in his eyes. "Sasuke!"

Sasuke was already moving, sword in hand, but the snake-man evaded him effortlessly. Two more snakes shot out from under his sleeves and Sasuke jumped back, only to be kicked from behind by the snake-man who moved too fast for Sakura's eyes to really register. Sasuke stumbled onto his knees a few feet away from her and she ran to his side.

"Sasuke-kun! Are you- aaaAAAAARGH!" she cut off with a scream as the man flung her away and attacked Sasuke. Sakura landed on her back and made to get up, remembering the bow and arrow in the pack that was still on her back. But when she reached for the helm of her bow, her fingers instead touched something soft and leathery, something which was creeping up under her palm and then onto the back of her froze, suddenly finding it hard to breath.

The snake slithered over her shoulder and she watched, petrified, as its head came to view, yellow-skinned and spotted black with black slits for eyes. Then it opened its mouth and a purple tongue rolled out.

Sakura screamed.

"Sakura!" she heard Sasuke yell, but she could not concentrate on anything other than the snake in her face, ready to strike her down and swallow her whole. If she hadn't been frozen with fear, she would have cried.

As it was, the snake had better things to do than swallow her whole, for it closed its mouth soon after she screamed and instead, slithered down her body and across her abdomen, then up her back again, wrapping around her tightly. She felt its head on top of her own and screamed again, writhing against the slowly tightening hold.

She saw Sasuke rushing towards her, sword drawn, but the Snake-man effortlessly kicked him back, again and again. When he tried to go towards Naruto, who had lost consciousness and was slowly turning a disturbing shade of purple around the face and hands(the only parts of him that was visible), the snake-man did the same, knocking Sasuke onto the ground and laughing.

"You can try to save them, Sasuke-kun. But you can't. You can't even defend your sorry little self," the Snake-man said mockingly, grabbing Sasuke around the neck and yanking him up so that his feet hung several inches above the ground. "My snakes are going to squeeze the life out of them, Sasuke-kun. I could kill you too, with my bare hands. Is this what the Uchiha clan has been reduced to? A weakling little baby who can't even crawl?"

Sasuke snarled and lashed out with his arms, but the Snake-man avoided him easily, almost laughing as he continued. "Is this what they have made you to be, the Golden Kingdom? Is this what they have reduced the last Uchiha to?" Then he leaned close and the next words were lost to Sakura.

Sasuke snarled again, and the man reared his head back, opening his mouth to reveal sharp fangs and then, as she watched in bewilderment, pushed Sasuke's head to a side and bit him on the neck.

"NO!" Sakura screamed, but that was all she could do.

The man let Sasuke drop to the ground, and with a swirl of dust and smoke, he disappeared. The ever-tightening pressure on her body disappeared and Sakura looked down to find herself free of the snake. She rushed toward Sasuke, who was on his knees, one arm braced against the hard ground and the other on his neck, his face twisted in agony.

"No, no, no.. Sasuke-kun," Sakura said shakily as she fell to her knees on the ground beside him and put her arms around him. "Sasuke-kun please don't die."

But Sasuke was not the worst off, Sakura realized as she noticed Naruto on the ground next to the tree he had been held against, unmoving.

She remembered the horrible colouring on his face, and the slowly tightening hold of the snake around her own body. She had found it difficult to breath. How long had Naruto been held like that?

"Sasuke-kun. I'm going to check on Naruto, okay? Wait here," she told him as calmly as she could, and with shaking hands and legs, she made her way to where Naruto lay, dreading the worst.

Sakura started to panic even more than she already was, but she forced herself to stop.

She had to be strong. She had to be strong for the both of them.

She turned him over and placed her hand over his nose.

His breaths were slow, but he was breathing. Sakura sighed in relief and got up, running back towards Sasuke who was now lying on the ground, his eyes screwed shut.

Sasuke was burning with fever, and when she pried his hand away from the bite, Sakura saw that three black flecks had appeared inside the area marked by teeth-marks.

_Be strong, _she told herself, fighting a wave of tears and panic that threatened to engulf her.

It was already past mid-afternoon, and soon, the forest would get dark. She had to find some cover before that. The last two nights, she had slept huddled between the two boys between the nook of two trees with either end of a blanket pinned to the trunks of the trees sheltering them.

Presently, she searched for a location to pin the blanket and found one a few feet away from where she was standing. After she had made the make shift shelter, she moved their belongings- or what was left of it to the area. That was the easy part.

It was hard, manual labour and she must have scratched them on rocks and twigs, but eventually, Sakura managed to drag both Naruto and Sasuke under the little canopy she'd built. She cleaned the dried blood off Sasuke's neck the best she could, and applied some salve she had taken from the castle on the bite marks. She wiped his face and arms with a wet cloth, and put another on his forehead, willing the fever to go down. Then she went to check if Naruto was still breathing- which he was-, and tried to unsuccessfully wake him up before settling down between the two of them and finally allowing herself to cry.

* * *

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End file.
